Preliminary studies by us indicate that in AxBu/Jax rabbits with manifest buphthalmos, there is a morphological alteration of Descemet's membrane as compared to normal rabbits. Ultrastructural observations suggest that a collagen-like material involved in the abnormality. Amino-acid analysis of the buphthalmic Descemet's membranes support this assumption. In addition to Descemet's membrane, the coroneal epithelium of buphthalmic rabbits is adversely affected by the disease exhibiting a progressive fragility that is suggestive of a basement membrane involvement. The objective of our project is to attempt to identify and isolate the aberrant components of corneal basement membranes that are associated with buphthalmos. Our major analytical procedures are electrophoresis, amino-acid analysis and immuno-cytochemistry.